LEGO® pieces, new set reviews, building techniques and brick model ideas
You know summer is officially over when The LEGO Group starts releasing winter-themed sets! Today I take a look at the smaller of two September 2023 LEGO® Friends sets: 41760 Igloo Holiday Adventure. For a set of modest size, it offers us a healthy number of recolours, rare parts and even two fascinating new moulds!
The June 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends releases continues to fly the flag for thoughtfully-designed sets in vibrant colours, and 41747 Heartlake City Community Kitchen is no exception. It includes four characters from the theme's reboot, plus everyone's favourite grumpy kitty, Churro, who all love hanging out in a community-run café.
The set features an interesting selection of new, recoloured and rare elements, so let's take a look at them to see what's cooking in the kitchen.
Continuing our look at the June 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends sets, 41744 Sports Center offers a small range of new recolours, a colourful selection of lesser-seen elements and a build that makes great use of all 832 parts.
One of the most keenly-awaited sets in the June wave of LEGO® Friends releases, 41757 Botanical Garden features a stylish butterfly house with cacti and succulents growing inside, along with an outside pond, overhanging cherry tree and three minidolls. It already seems to be a popular set with the AFOL community, so let's dive straight into the interesting parts included.
Beginning our look at the June 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends sets, 41759 Heartlake City Bus offers a modest range of new and recoloured elements. Today I'll be discussing them all, as well as the build itself and some MOCs I made inspired by the new moulds.
I’ve reviewed so many sets from the January 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends, I’m in need of some food and a drink... which these two sets will provide.
The buildings I have reviewed so far in the January 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends sets are all located in Heartlake City. Time to take a trip to the countryside and pay a visit to Autumn, who lives with her family on a ranch just a bike ride’s distance from the city.
Today's review is for all dog-lovers! Join me on a journey through Heartlake City in search of canines in need of rescue.
The January 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends sets bring us forward in the timeline with the original group now all grown up and the introduction of a new group of 8 brand new characters. To get to know them better the theme gives us a look into their rooms with 4 new sets showing their hobbies and interests: 41739 Liann’s Room, 41740 Aliya’s Room, 41754 Leo’s Room and 41755 Nova’s Room.
The sets average around 200 parts, and are available for £17.99 / €19,99 / $19.99 / AU$32.99. I assume the rooms of the other 4 friends will show up in future?
Apparently it’s a new trend: Tiny Houses. On one hand, I like the concept: less room means less building materials, heating, maintenance and footprint but just thinking about living in one makes me claustrophobic. I’m not a fan of small spaces. I need room to breathe and move...besides, where would I store my LEGO in a Tiny House?
The next set from the January 2023 wave of LEGO® Friends sets under my review is another shop: 41729 Organic Grocery Store. With 830 parts, it sits within the top 5 largest sets out of the wave, and includes some nice new elements. So, grab your cart and load up with MOC-feeders.
The new year brings us a brand new group of Heartlake friends and according to the press release they'll meet each other at school. So naturally a school comes in the new wave of LEGO® Friends. We've seen 2 previous school sets (5 if you count the Art, Theater and Performance sets), and I’ll be schooling you today on the third: Friends 41731 Heartlake International School. With 985 pieces it's the second biggest set in the January 2023 wave, so sit up, grab your pencil or laptop and pay attention!
After examining all of the new elements found in the January 2023 LEGO® Friends wave, it’s time to take a look at the largest of the sets, 41732 Downtown Flower and Design Stores. With 2010 parts, it's not just the largest piece count of the wave, it's the largest ever in the 10 years of the LEGO Friends theme. It's even the first LEGO Friends set to have a 12+ age recommendation.
I’ve been hoping for a Modular-sized LEGO Friends build, and this set comes close. Let’s find out if that 12+ mark is warranted.
We're nearing 2023, which means a new wave of sets will soon be upon us. Over the next few weeks, here on the website and on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts, I'll be taking a look at 17 of the LEGO® Friends sets that have been announced. A lot has changed in Heartlake City, and this brings a lot of new elements. Let's take a look at those changes, and all the new elements!
Products in this article were provided by LEGO®; the author's opinions are their own.
With LEGO® Friends celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, I wanted to take a look at what the history of this theme has brought to us LEGO fans. And I’ll start off with this statement: I love LEGO Friends! The models are colorful, detailed, and take place in ‘real-life’. They are great for city-building, and they have excellent playability. They also offer lots of ‘MOC-food’; with all the new elements and colors they have made available, Friends has made a great contribution to MOC design.
TobyMac (@toby_mac83) reviews the LEGO® Friends 10th anniversary set, 41703 Friendship Tree House. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
LEGO has marked several theme anniversaries in recent years: LEGO Star Wars turned 20 in 2019, LEGO Harry Potter did the same in 2021 and LEGO Ninjago turned 10 that same year. For Star Wars there were promotional micro-builds and several remakes of older sets. Harry Potter celebrated with a relaunch of the Hogwarts modular sets and released golden minifigures of the main characters. Ninjago featured golden figures too, albeit with some added colours. With LEGO Friends turning 10 in 2022, I was looking forward to what LEGO will be doing to celebrate. Will there be golden minidolls? A remake of some classic sets? Or maybe a set packed with references?
Caz Mockett (@cazmockett) is the first of the 5 contributors in our 5x5 fest! We sent her 5 LEGO® sets and asked her to use the new and interesting parts to create MOCs. Every Friday is 5x5 fest day for the next 5 weeks, so come back to see what our next AFOL built.
Eero Okkonen (@eerookkonen) casts his critical eye over the architecture of LEGO® Friends 41449 Andrea's Family House today, before creating a brand new model inspired by some of its parts. Buying this set? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.
